Is Vietnamese hard to learn? This is a common question among numerous language enthusiasts.
Known for its richness and flexibility in tone and character, Vietnamese offers a unique challenge for learners. Read on to learn more!
According to the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), Vietnamese is classified as a moderately difficult language for English speakers, similar to Russian and Thai.
Experts estimate it takes around 1,100 study hours to achieve basic conversational skills. Many learners find Vietnamese challenging due to its unique tonal system.
The difficulty of learning Vietnamese can depend on your mother tongue. Prior experience with foreign languages also helps boost your fluency.
“Vietnamese has the qualities of a beautiful and expressive language.”
Professor and renowned cultural figure Dang Thai Mai
The richness and expressiveness of the Vietnamese make its study a journey that requires both patience and passion.
Let’s start with the origins of Vietnamese language. Numerous linguists classify Vietnamese under the Proto-Viet-Muong branch of the Mon-Khmer language family.
The first writing system was the Nom script. Later, the Romanization of Vietnamese introduced the Latin alphabet, which became Vietnam’s official script untill now.
Tone is a distinctive feature of the Vietnamese language. There are 6 types of tones:
Each tone is like a musical note, creating a harmonious symphony. This also presents certain challenges in learning Vietnamese.
The same word can take on different meanings depending on the tone it uses.
For example, the word “cô” (young woman) in the mid-level tone:
The uniqueness of tone sometimes lead to confusion in communication. Hence, you should pay more attention to this aspect when learning Vietnamese.
According to Assoc. Prof. Pham Van Tinh, Vietnamese currently boasts over 17,000 syllables, indicating that the minimum vocabulary of 17,000 words.
The Vietnamese people skillfully combine these syllables to form new words, resulting in millions of possible combinations. Therefore, the native speakers can effectively convey their messages at ease.
There’re three primary categories:
A study by the Max Planck Institute found that around 28.1% of commonly used Vietnamese words are borrowed. These loanwords primarily come from:
Additionally, Vietnamese constantly borrows and adapts words, adding to its beauty and richness.
There are three main dialect groups in Vietnamese:
Dialectal variations differ in vocabulary and pronunciation. Therefore, Vietnamese is enriched in part by its long-standing dialect system.
Dialects are a “wall” that learners must overcome. Thus, continuous practice and exposure to native speakers are essential to expanding vocabulary.
In Vietnamese, there is a folk adage capturing the complexities of its grammar: “Phong ba bão táp không bằng ngữ pháp Việt Nam.” This can be roughly translated as: “The storms and tempests are nothing compared to Vietnamese grammar.”
In the book “Introduction to Spoken Vietnamese,” authors argue that most Vietnamese verbs lack tense inflection. Instead, tense is conveyed through two primary mechanisms: clause structure and auxiliary verbs.
In contrast, prominent scholar Truong Vinh Ky advocates for the existence of tenses and aspects in Vietnamese. They are indicated by grammatical elements such as affixes, functional words, and clauses. Accordingly, Vietnamese distinguishes between:
While debates persist about tense and aspect, this has added to the mysterious beauty of Vietnamese.
Vietnamese follows the pattern: Subject – Verb – Object.
Vietnamese is a non-inflectional language, which means words do not change regardless of their grammatical role.
For example,
In French, an inflectional language:
In Vietnamese,
Vietnamese grammar relies on word order and functional words to convey meaning. Even a slight shift in word order can fundamentally alter a sentence’s meaning.
This grammatical feature presents challenges for Vietnamese learners. This requires a solid understanding of vocabulary, word order, and cultural context.
Function words are basic grammatical elements.
They are defined as words that don’t have independent meaning and cannot stand alone as sentence components. They express grammatical relationships between lexical words.
Linguist Hoang Phe cites examples like “đã, đang, sẽ” as function words.
While they don’t serve as primary grammatical components, function words play a key role in conveying emotional meaning.
Function words help create nuanced expressions. Therefore, Vietnamese is considered a highly expressive language.
The difficulty of learning Vietnamese varies depending on the learner’s native language. With its Latin alphabet, Vietnamese may be easier to pick up for English speakers.
However, the following characteristics of Vietnamese can pose challenges for foreigners.
“The pronoun system in Vietnamese is a phenomenon that causes many complications for translators when converting other languages into Vietnamese.“
Linguist Nguyen Van Chien
The pronominal system in Vietnamese clearly shows the relationships between subjects, a distinction that is sometimes ambiguos in English.
Example #1
Example #2
The differences in the pronominal system between Vietnamese and English are evident. This requires a deep understanding of the culture.
Vietnamese function words are diverse and rich. Vietnamese speakers often use function words unconsciously to convey information.
However, their role in expression is crucial for Vietnamese. In contrast, in the English or French language systems, the number of function words is not as extensive.
The system of borrowing words has become an integral part of the Vietnamese language. They are used very so often that it’s difficult to distinguish between native Vietnamese words and loanwords.
Loanwords often carry a formal and polite tone while native ones evoke a sense of simplicity and familiarity.
Their uses depend on the communication context. For example,
Therefore, choosing the appropriate vocabulary in communication is a considerable challenge, requiring an acumen for handling.
The linguistic canvas of Vietnam is harmonious blend of distinct characteristics and proud history of 54 ethnic groups.
Each ethnic group adds its own shade of language and customs to this palette. Therefore, Vietnamese learners need to equip themselves with an in-depth understanding of Vietnam’s cultural values.
Through all the ups and downs, Vietnamese has accumulated layers richness in its tones and characters. However, this beauty can make Vietnamese translation challenging, as it’s hard to fully capture the essence of the language.
